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‘Worst nightmare a parent could endure’: New York nanny butchered two children because she was jealous of their mother

Yoselyn Ortega has been convicted of murdering Lucia Krim, 6, and Leo Krim, 2, while their mother was with their little sister at a swimming class, and their father was on a business trip

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Yoselyn Ortega arrives for a hearing for her trial at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York on July 8, 2013. Photo: Reuters
Associated Press

A once-trusted nanny who butchered two children in her care while their mother was at a sibling’s swimming lesson and their father was on a business trip was convicted of murder by a jury that didn’t believe her claims she was too insane at the time of the crime to be held responsible.

Jurors on Wednesday found that Yoselyn Ortega killed Lucia Krim, six, and Leo Krim, two, in October 2012 and knew what she was doing. Ortega expressed no reaction to the verdict, staring straight ahead as it was read, but she later wiped tears from her eyes as she was led from the courtroom.

The children’s father, Kevin Krim, sat in the front row, clasping hands with two alternate jurors who had been dismissed but stayed for the verdict. He hugged them after the verdict was read, and they wept together.
Lucia “LuLu” Krim (left) and Leo Krim (right) were stabbed to death by nanny Yoselyn Ortega. Photo: Handout / Krim family
Lucia “LuLu” Krim (left) and Leo Krim (right) were stabbed to death by nanny Yoselyn Ortega. Photo: Handout / Krim family
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The children’s mother, Marina Krim, who had returned home to discover them dead in a blood-soaked bathroom, was not in the audience.

It was a scream you can’t imagine is even inside of you … I just thought: ‘I’m never going to be able to talk to them ever again. They are dead. I just saw my kids dead’
Mother Marina Krim describes discovering the murder scene

Ortega’s lawyer Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg didn’t dispute that Ortega killed the children but contended she had an undiagnosed mental illness that got worse in the moments leading up to the attack. She said Ortega snapped and didn’t know what she was doing when she stabbed the children to death.

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